Hi All,
Thanks for the reviews and encouraging emails. (Blush!) Each one means a lot to me, thank you!
Extra thanks to Kreek, for well… you know… Period. (Wink!)
Abrazos to Eli
Chapter 14
Starsky looked down at Hutch. The sleeping blond twitched occasionally in his dreams. Starsky had eased him off of the rock that they had been sitting on and settled him between some boulders. He hated to leave him but he wanted to scout around for Colby and try to find an easier route up the mountain.
The smell of wood smoke was stronger now. Someone might be camping nearby. He would check it out and if it were, he'd have to lead Colby away from them, but if it were the search party, he would rush back and get Hutch. He took a step in the direction the smoke seemed to be coming from, then stopped. He had promised that he would keep his friend in sight. Granted, Hutch was sleeping when he had made that promise. Still, a promise was a promise.
He turned back and began to make his way back to his friend. As he did so, he felt the hair on the back of his neck raise. Someone or something was watching him. He kept moving as though he hadn't noticed anything amiss, but his eyes scanned the surrounding area, trying to locate the source of his unease.
XXXX
Colby watched the brunet with a predator's eyes. He could take Starsky out right now with a well-placed shot, but that would be far too easy. It would also be easy just to grab the blond as well. Starsky tended to get reckless without Hutch to pull him back from emotions edge. Colby smiled, crouching low in the bushes as he watched Starsky draw nearer. He had time some really nice plans for the pair, starting with Starsky.
XXXXHutch rolled onto his right arm in his sleep and the pain woke him up. He pulled the aching limb tight against his chest as he sat up. His left hand cradled the injured right arm; he let out a slow hiss of pain. He needed a sling for that arm, "Starsk?"
He waited for a reply and rotated his head around, listening for his partner. He heard nothing. He blinked his eyes and prayed for his vision to return. He hated being blind. He gritted his teeth and patted the ground around him until he found Woody. With the stick's help, he climbed to his feet. Dizziness made him sit right down on one of the boulder's he had been sleeping beside. "Gotta move a little slower next time," he chided himself.
"Starsky, where the hell are you?"
XXXX
Starsky stopped dead in his tracks. A patch of blond hair had caught his eye. "Hutch!" the name came out as a harsh exhalation. He ran over to the bush where he had spotted the blond hair. He skidded to a halt and looked closer at the mop of blond hair. There was far too much hair for it to be Hutch.
As he drew near, he detected a faint smell of decomposition, whatever it was, it hadn't been dead for very long. With his new angle, he could see it was a bear cub and not his friend lying under that bush. "Crap" he whispered and backed slowly away from the sad sight. He began to look for its mother. He wasn't sure if the mama would be protective of a dead cub or not. Nor was he interested in finding out. Maybe the mother was around; perhaps that's why he felt he was being watched.
He continued to back slowly away, the faint scent of death clung to his nostrils. When he felt he was clear, he ran to where he had left Hutch.
XXXX
It hadn't taken him very long to find their trail and catch up with them, they were moving slowly. Colby watched Starsky from behind some bushes. The brunet's behavior just now intrigued him and so he went to investigate after the brunet had sprinted off. He was in no hurry to follow just yet, with Hutch in the condition he was in, they weren't going anywhere fast. Simply pathetic, if Starsky would just leave the blond behind, he could easily walk out in a few hours time, provided he didn't get lost.
But no, loyal as an old dog, Curly was. He wouldn't leave his good buddy Hutch. That would work in his favor because Colby was itching to try some new torture methods he had learned - but as of yet- had not been able to practice. He had never had the opportunity or the motivation until now.
Colby finally got to the spot his former friend had occupied and noticed a patch of blond under a bush. He drew near and saw it was the bear cub he had mistaken for Hutch yesterday. He edged nearer and noticed that one side of it was covered with dried blood. Flies swarmed around the bullet hole and the cub's mouth, eyes and nose.
He smiled; the cub must have taken a round or two from the Magnum as he fired at its mother. "Good" he nodded to himself and walked away. It served the bear right for keeping him in a tree all night long. Colby moved back away from the dead animal and headed back to watch ol' Husky and Starch and prepare for his next move.
XXXX
Starsky saw Hutch sitting on a boulder and knew he was in for it. His friend was gonna be pissed that he had left him alone, even though he had been able to see the blond's position most of the time. He missed the part where Hutch got up, but that was because of his finding the dead cub had distracted him.
The blond head swiveled this way and that, trying to home in on his location. Starsky deliberately stepped on a twig to alert his friend to his position. The blond head snapped to a halt. "Hey partner… s'me,." he called softly. He watched as first relief then anger crossed Hutch's face.
"Starsk! Where the hell did you go? Huh?" was Hutch's relieved response and he let Woody fall and reached out with his left hand.
Starsky grabbed the hand in his own "I went out for a pack of cigarettes"
"Starsky, you don't smoke, besides it's bad for ya, it'll stunt your growth…" the blond's expression changed, "don't do that again!" long fingers squeezed his hand hard, just for a moment before easing up, but retaining his hold.
"Yes mom," Starsky ducked his head and looked up through his brows at his partner "I didn't have correct change anyway, it won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't," the blond smiled for a moment before it faded away.
"What?" Starsky searched his friend's face, trying to figure out what was bothering him.
"I hate this," the blond head dipped downward.
Starsky bent down and picked up Woody and put it in Hutch's hand, "Me too, let's go."
XXXX
Fullerton Airport fire
"Oh shit!"
"What's wrong Mr. Johnston?" The young hotshot watched as the IC read the weather report he had just delivered.
"Everything! Christ on a cracker…" Johnston removed his hard hat with one hand and ran the other through his sparse locks, before dropping the hat back into place; he then leaned forward on the map that lay on the table before him. "We've just got a Red Flag Warning, a front is moving in fast, no cooling and strong westerly winds with gusts up to fifty miles an hour."
The younger man paled, he hadn't been a hot shot for very long, but even he knew this was big trouble. With the temperature around 95 degrees outside, low humidity and no cooling before the wind arrived… it was very bad news. The high outside temperature brought everything flammable closer to its ignition temperature; this meant that it wouldn't take much more heat to set anything flammable on fire. On a much cooler day, it would take longer for say, wood to catch fire because the wood would have to heat up more to get to its ignition temperature. This was not going to be the case today.
He tugged at his soot covered yellow shirt collar; he just might witness his first blowup today. He had heard about them, other hotshots and firefighters in the service talked about blowups. He had heard about them, other hotshots and firefighters in the service talked about blowups. He wanted to see one, but at the same time didn't want to see one. People died in blowups. Thirteen smokejumpers had died in a blowup at Mann Gulch back in 1949. And from IC Johnston's reaction, the conditions were primed for it.
XXXX
Starsky walked up the slope slowly. Hutch's left arm was draped over his shoulders; the taller detective was drooping like a wilted flower. Both of them were soaked in sweat. The temperature had climbed into the nineties. There was no wind to speak of. Just heat. And the increasing smell of smoke, Starsky could also see puffs of it; above the trees in the very direction they were headed. He figured it had to be a signal fire.
"Almost there Hutch… just a little further," he encouraged, he moved Woody ahead a step. The stick had come in handy for climbing the steep part of the mountain. Since as the tired and injured as Hutch was, he couldn't really use it since the blond's good arm was currently across his shoulders.
Starsky glanced at his watch. It was nearly one in the afternoon. Still no sign of Colby… but Starsky could almost feel him out there, watching… waiting… then again, it just could be the heat that shimmered off the land in visible waves off of the rockslide. He kept them to the forest edge; this afforded him a clear view, which would make it impossible for Colby to sneak up on them from at least one side.
He had stopped taking sips of water a while ago so Hutch could have the rest of it, not that there was much left in the canteen. One thing about Hutch being blind was that he could pretend to drink and get away with it, though he felt rather bad about tricking his friend that way. But Hutch needed the water more then he did.
Soon they would be safe. He checked his watch; they should be able to make it to the meadow in about an hour or so, provided his partner did not completely give out before they got there. He had so far; been able to avoid talking about his time in Vietnam, despite Hutch's repeated questions. He was –almost- relieved that Hutch was getting too tired to ask anymore.
The smoke odor was quiet strong now. That must be one hell of a signal fire they built, but then, both Dobey and Huggy thought he was worthless in the forest, a notion he cultivated with great care. The more he grumbled and complained; the less likely Hutch was to drag him along. It made dodging bad memories much easier.
"Nguhi linh!"
Starsky barely heard the whispered words; they were foreign, but familiar. He froze in his tracks. He carefully listened for more, his heart hammering in his chest as the words stirred forgotten memories.
Hutch, feeling the change in his friend, lifted his weary head "What's goin' on?"
Starsky quickly slapped his hand over his partner's mouth, silencing him as he pulled the blond down to the ground and pushed him towards some a thick bush. He pulled his Beretta from its holster and flicked off the safety. He listened again, hardly daring to breathe.
After a long time of waiting and listening and hearing nothing, he carefully pulled Hutch out of the brush and put his friend's hand on his belt again. Thankfully, the blond didn't argue. He just held on and crawled after him as Starsky made his way through the undergrowth.
Sensing it was safe to talk; Hutch whispered his question again "What's goin' on?"
"Thought I heard Charlie, for just a second there," Starsky clamped his teeth together, fearing he might have said too much. He didn't want Hutch to ask any more questions about his time in Vietnam.
"Charlie?" Hutch tilted is head to the side, wishing he could see his friend's face. So much of their communication was silent; he had come to rely on a mere glance to know what was passing through Starsky's mind, "Starsk, who is Charlie?"
Starsky didn't reply, he just bit his lip. 'I just imagined that I heard Viet Cong words just now, it's all in my mind' He picked up his pace a bit, wanting to leave the area as quickly as he could. Never comfortable in the woods, the place seemed even more intimidating now. He urged the blond to hurry, "C'mon Blintz, it's not too much further now," he cast a look back at the trees, unable to shake his growing unease.
XXXX
Hutch was a walking ache and he was so tired that if Starsky stopped for more then a few seconds, he started to nod off. He knew something was bothering his friend. He might not be able to see it, but he could certainly sense it and feel the tension in Starsky's back, through his fingers that were wrapped around the brunet's belt.
He did his best to keep up, not wanting to be a burden and wanting to get out of these woods as soon as possible. Colby was on their trail and it wouldn't take him long to find them. Hutch swallowed dryly, his weakness was slowing them down. Colby would catch up to them sometime soon, if he weren't there already, hiding, watching, and waiting to make his next move.
Hutch rubbed his forehead on his forearm, wiping off the sweat, which would immediately bead back up. The sweat ran down his brows and into his eyes, which then stung from the salt. He could tell he had a fever again, or more likely, still had a fever. Then again, it could be the heat. The sharp scent of wood smoke burned his nostrils. Smoke? His head shot up. The woods were too dry, who would be so dumb as to light a fire in the woods during a drought?
"Starsk?" He tugged on Starsky's belt.
Starsky stopped moving and whispered, "Yeah?"
"Is that smoke I smell?" the blind sniffed the air.
"Yeah,"
"Do you know where it's comin' from?" Hutch tried to detect the direction of the smoke, but the wind was fairly still and what light gusts there were swirled the scent around making it hard to detect what direction it was coming from.
"I think it's a signal fire meant for us. It appears to be comin' from the meadow where you crash landed, that's where we're headed," Starsky sat down, knowing that Hutch needed a break.
"That doesn't make sense…" Hutch slumped down and leaned against his friend for support, using him as a backrest as he tried to put his fuzzy brain to work on the reason it why it didn't make sense. He floundered for a long moment "Why would they start a fire? It's too dry; any S&R personnel would know that… I don't understand. The risk of forest fire is too high."
Starsky placed a hand on his brow "You're getting hot again."
Hutch tried to smile and but couldn't think of a witty retort to ease the worry that he could hear in his partner's voice. He desperately wished that he had his sight back. Without his sight, he felt so cut off from his friend. His main link, his ability to read his friend's body language, was severed by his blindness.
He couldn't see Starsky's reactions and therefore had lost his main way to communicate with his partner. He tilted his head back a bit and rested his head on Starsky's chest. At least he still had the ability to touch. He kept his eye closed that was something, anyway.
He knew he should get up; they needed to keep moving, a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him. He could hear the pounding of his blood in his ears; it drowned out everything else as his right arm throbbed with pain with every beat of his heart. He gave in to the urge to rest, but only for a minute. He sighed heavily and fell into an exhausted sleep.
XXXX
Starsky wrapped an arm around his partner, despite the heat of the day and the heat rolling off his friend and himself. He rested his chin on top of the dirty blond hair. His eyes never stopping moving as they repeatedly scanned the area for Colby, all his senses were on high alert.
He looked up the incline. It had to be at least a forty-degree angle and from what he could see, it was only going to get steeper and more open as they climbed. He idly stroked his hand over Hutch's dirty and tangled hair. "S'okay Hutch, just a little-"
"Nguhi linh, boh yu khi suong!"
Starsky's head popped up at the sound of the Vietnamese words. He brain fumbled for the translation of the long forgotten words, but the shock of hearing those words forced him to remember 'soldier, put down your weapon' or something along those lines. His whole body tensed and he reached for his gun.
"Hutch, wake up… we gotta leave now!" he whispered as he shook the blond to rouse him. He didn't wait for Hutch to fully waken before he started to quietly drag him away in the opposite direction of from the source of the words, which fortunate for him, was in the direction of the meadow.
Hutch blinked as he awoke to find himself being dragged along. He immediately grabbed the brunet's belt and tucked Woody under his arm and followed as quickly as he could manage. "What's happening?"
"Shhh!" Starsky cautioned as he rapidly made his way through the undergrowth with Hutch hanging on to his belt. He didn't hear any more Vietnamese words, so maybe he had just imagined them. That brought him up short and he stopped suddenly, Hutch piled into his butt. He didn't really notice as his brain began to process the information. It could be that the heat of the day, Hutch's injury, lack of sleep and the fact that Colby was out there somewhere were all getting to him.
He shook his head. He was gonna crack up if he let such notions get to him. He made himself focus on what he knew to be true. Truth, Colby was out there, truth, Hutch was injured and needed medical attention, truth, he was gonna get his partner outta these damn woods come hell or high water. His face became a mask of determination as he foraged through the undergrowth, with Hutch in tow.
XXXX
Colby smiled at he watched Starsky's face through the binoculars that he had found in the backpack. Starsky's near panicked reaction to the Vietnamese words was even better then he had anticipated. He was careful to only speak them when he figured Hutch was too distracted or asleep, so he wouldn't hear them.
When he figured it to be safe, he picked up the backpack and followed them at a safe distance. He would steer them towards the smoke he could see rising above the treetops; he had scouted the area earlier to find out what was causing it. A small fire was burning in the meadow where he had landed the plane.
The fire had burned away most of the grass and the undergrowth, leaving only trees and blackened ground. The smoke would be good to hide in and plus the fire would hem them in, preventing them from getting away. Not that there was much chance of that, unless Starsky left his buddy behind. Colby dismissed that thought. He knew that would never happen. It was a perfect place for the end game. He would have his fun then burn their bodies. No one would ever be able to find them.
He smiled. This was going to be so much fun.
TBC
Red Flag Warning: A warning issued that weather conditions are likely to cause unpredictable/extreme fire behavior.
Blowup: Rapid increase in a fire's intensity and rate of spread, the result of which is a violent and widespread burst of flame. All available fuel, from the ground to the treetops, ignites. The blowup lasts only seconds, the result of which can end up as a Firestorm.
Firestorm: A fire that burns so hot that it creates its own wind. This is done by convection, which draws cooler air in, at hurricane force. People have been sucked out of their vehicles and killed during such events.